The Friends of the Cancer Centre Scholarships were awarded in late 2024 to three staff members working in cancer services in the Northern Ireland Cancer Centre and North West Cancer Centre.
The charity has invested in the training and development of staff across cancer & haematology services since 2008, through its scholarship programme. The Dr Gary McGowan, Pamela Lutton and Pearl Ewing scholarships are dedicated and named after former colleagues who were themselves passionate about the development of staff for the good of local cancer patients.
The scholarships are awarded each year to allow staff to undertake training or educational courses, helping them to stay at the forefront of developments in patient care, treatment techniques, and cancer research.
Dr Michael McMahon, Oncologist at the Northern Ireland Cancer Centre, was awarded the Dr Gary McGowan Scholarship for 2024. The scholarship will assist with relocation to Toronto in order to complete a Sarcoma, Lymphoma & Eyes Radiation Oncology Fellowship from July 2025. This fellowship will be facilitated by the University of Toronto and the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, helping to enhance Dr McMahon’s skills in providing effective care for his patients.
The Pamela Lutton Scholarship for 2024 was awarded to Stephanie Farrell, Therapeutic Radiographer at the North West Cancer Centre. Stephanie will undertake the Integrating Mindfulness and Compassion qualification through Mindfulness UK. This will allow Stephanie to adopt a more holistic approach to her patients’ wellbeing, and to identify risk factors for stress and anxiety in patients. She will be able to teach mindfulness techniques to help patients to deal with their treatment, and support fellow staff.
Ryan McKendry, Clinical Scientist in Radiotherapy Physics at the North West Cancer Centre, has been awarded the Pearl Ewing Scholarship for 2024. Ryan will be undertaking an ESTRO (European Society for Radiotherapy & Oncology) course on ‘Dose Modelling and Verification for External Beam Radiotherapy.’ This will allow Ryan to explore key topics that will contribute to improving practices within the department, particularly as part of the refresh programme to replace the linear accelerators used for delivering treatments.
The Friends of the Cancer Centre Scholarships Panel would like to commend all those who applied for the charity’s scholarships, and congratulates the winners on their award amongst an extremely high standard of applications.
The Friends of the Cancer Centre Scholarships will open again for applications in September 2025.
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Friends of the Cancer Centre is a registered company limited by guarantee in Northern Ireland. Company number NI616925. Registered with The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland NIC101345.
